Bad Piggies is a well-designed physics game that lacks the fast-paced, addictive nature of Angry Birds, but will appeal to patient types who like to solve problems.

Bad Piggies, Rovio's buzzworthy follow-up to Angry Birds, will probably not appeal to the same casual gaming crowd that's addicted to catapulting birds, but it's a very good game in other ways. It's slower, more thoughtful, more skill-based.

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Bad Piggies features the same green pigs you were probably trying to knock down inAngry Birds, and the same UI sensibilities. However this time, your goal is to build a vehicle to propel your pig through an obstacle course, collecting crates and stars along the way.

If you enjoyed the physics element in Rovio's other app Amazing Alex, then Bad Piggies will leave you hooked. Personally, I found it frustratingly difficult and switched to the brainless Angry Birds for a break.

GameplayAt the start of each level you're given a toolbox of items—wooden boxes (identical to the ones in Angry Birds obstacles), umbrellas, balloons, wheels, and more—from which you can build a vehicle that ideally takes your pig through all the stars and points-based items in your landscape. You swipe to drag the items into a grid formation to build your vehicle, tap a checkmark, and watch your Rube Goldberg machine set off. You can redo a level as many times as you like. Just like in Angry Birds and Amazing Alex, you can earn one to three stars. One star will let you move on to the next level, and there are 90 in all, though most of you will probably aim for a perfect score.

Bad Piggies is slow-moving, even slower than Rovio's other physics game, Amazing Alex. The vehicles roll through landscapes rather slowly (compared to flung Angry Birds, anyway) so if you need to rebuild your vehicle, it can take several minutes finishing a level. That's a long time in casual gaming land. If you simply can't figure out how to build the right vehicle, you can power up by tapping Hire a Mechanic (in Angry Birds the equivalent is the Mighty Eagle). A mechanic simply builds the contraption for you. You get 3 mechanics for free just by liking the Bad Piggies Facebook page, but after that you'll need to open your wallet. However, you can keep hiring mechanics, starting from $1.99 for ten.

I never made it to the four promised sandbox stages, which apparently let you use any sort of item to build a vehicle and collect crates.

Fun, But the Pigs Are No BirdsBad Piggies is a high-quality game, but it won't replace Angry Birds. Instead of half-attentively catapulting birds like in the latter, Bad Piggies requires your complete attention to solve puzzle after puzzle. A lot of people try to draw comparisons to Angry Birds, but it's much more similar to Amazing Alex, and will appeal to the same crowd that would rather solve a puzzle than race to the finish line.

Sara Yin is a junior analyst in the Software, Internet, and Networking group at PCmag.com, pouring most of her energy into app testing and security matters at Security Watch with Neil Rubenking. She lies awake at night pondering the state of mobile security (half-true).
Prior to joining PCMag.com, Sara spent five years reporting for publications in New York City (Huffington Post), Hong Kong (South China Morning Post), and Singapore (Campaign Asia, Men's Health).
Follow her on Twitter at @SecurityWatch and @sarapyin, or contact her the...
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